But by now, the 24-year-old is used to being an odd man out. It’s how he got his start in MMA.

Barnatt got a chilly reception four years ago when he and a friend walked into the Tsunami Gym in Cambridge, England. They worked security at a club in Essex, and the friend, MMA fighter Jack Mason, invited him to tag along on the trip.

Right off the bat, the team’s pro fighters allowed Barnatt to roll. Future UFC welterweight John Maguire even showed him a triangle choke. But the team also dished out heaps of ridicule – at least the ones who spoke to him. Maguire’s brother, Tommy, wouldn’t give him the time of day.

“They all took the piss out of me and called me a lanky prick,” Barnatt said. “It was horrible. But I kept coming back.”

Several days a week, he would make the two-hour drive from Essex to Cambridge, train for 90 minutes and drive home. After six months, the gym’s head coach offered him a fight.

“I think I would have been a little bit prettier if that hadn’t happened,” Barnatt said.

The broken jaw his opponent gave him hurt, as one might imagine. But the pain didn’t stop him, and he surged back to earn a second-round TKO.

When he walked out of the cage, Tommy Maguire started talking to him. They’ve been close ever since.

“I look back at it now, and it was awful,” Barnatt said. “My hands were (at my sides), and I didn’t know what I was doing. But I won, so I must have been ready.”

By now, Barnatt is used to taking shots inside the cage. It’s become something of an unfortunate habit that it takes him a punch or two to wake up before he starts performing at his best. A shot he took in the elimination round of “TUF 17″ left the right side of his face numb.

But nobody doubts his toughness. And like he did with his own team so many years ago, Barnatt plans to prove he’s for real to his “TUF 17″ castmates.

“I do think English MMA has come a long way,” he said. “We’re on par with America, but they look down on us. ‘This guy can’t wrestle.’ Try and take me down.”

MMAjunkie.com interviewed all 14 of “The Ultimate Fighter 17″ preliminary-round winners, each of whom was featured in the debut episode of “TUF 17: Team Jones vs. Team Sonnen.” New interviews will be released each day until the season’s second episode airs on Tuesday.

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